Joe Biden in November he will be 82. Rupert Murdoch, who has a media dynasty on three continents, is 93. The former is still politicking, confusing and confusing, the latter is still getting married. The truth is that, unlike the politicians he has occasionally supported, he has not spent a moment on the sidelines in the last 70 years, pulling the strings and making waves (see Brexit).
Joe enters politics, Rupert gets married. “Murdoch’s circulatory system may require some special tinkering when it comes to standing at banquets for too long, but no amount of compression can quell his passions when it comes to matters of the heart.” It’s easy to scoff – like the FT editor – but the tycoon’s command, which is just a few steps away from 100, will be heeded. Books have even been written about his incredible and terrifying influence.
“It’s not age, you idiot,” as Clinton would say. In the US and the West, the concern is different. The possibility of Trump, another old man, winning in revenge and the chaotic perception of a loser.
For a long time, the same people who are now calling for the occupant of the White House to step down did not care that he was governing the United States in this state of health and mental weakness.
For a long time they were not bothered by the decline, now they are bothered by its revelation. If Biden were 10 points ahead of Trump in the polls, they would be applauding every time he put three words in a row. The decline was not gradual. Hemingway’s “gradually, then suddenly” does not apply here when asked how he went bankrupt. The moment of unbearable exposure had to come for them to admit what even a child could see. No medicine seems to be enough when the body is sick. Can the decline of the West be hidden?